The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
A vehicle control system may include multiple control modules that communicate with each other via a controller area network (CAN). The control modules may include, for example, an engine control module, a transmission control module and a hybrid control module. Each of the control modules may include a primary module and a secondary module. The primary module provides, for example, control over actuators. The secondary module monitors operating states of the primary module.
As an example, the primary module of the engine control module may control throttle, spark, phaser, fuel, and turbo actuators of an engine. The secondary module of the engine control module may monitor the “state of health” of the primary module. The “state of health” of the primary module may refer to whether the primary module is operating appropriately and/or has one or more faults.
The secondary modules may perform diagnostic tests on the primary modules to determine the state of health of the primary modules. The secondary modules may transmit request signals to the primary modules and compare responses from the primary modules to predetermined responses. A fault may be detected when the responses from the primary modules do not match the predetermined responses. The secondary modules may disable the primary modules when a fault is detected and/or when the number of faults detected exceeds a predetermined threshold.